Think Later, listen now to Tate McRae's sophomore album.
Think Later is refreshingly playful and spontaneous, but with the backing of traditional pop glory.
Let’s start on the night of October 13th, 2023. Coming off a rapid 20-city sprint, jetting across the U.S. night after night, McRae wrapped up her “Are we Flying Tour” with one last performance alongside charlieonafriday in Seattle at the Paramount Theatre. Yet that night, instead of going on a well-deserved sabbatical, she flew straight to her recording studio.
To build on the energy and excitement she brought to her fans, RCA/Sony Music, her record label, unexpectedly pulled her second project forward dramatically. McRae told Q Power in an interview, “I will be honest…my album got pulled way way earlier…like I was supposed to release this album later.” RCA/Sony asked McRae to deliver her second full length within the next week and a half. With the unexpected one week deadline looming large, she brought out the whiteboard, met up with American singer-songwriter/record producer Ryan Tedder, and got to work pulling together a tracklist.
That mad-dash scramble shines through in a special way. The lyrics and melodies are off-the-cuff, catchy, high energy, and charmingly authentic. The songs carry the excitement of being written in 15 minute bursts—the sound of two friends in the studio just bouncing ideas and elements off each other. Elements aren’t excessively labored upon or tried, and the songs are both spontaneous and approachable. It manifests in mostly sub-3 minute tracks optimized for streaming with simple easy-to-follow constructions, snappy repetitions, and playful adlibs.
Take “Guilty Conscience” for example. It only has two versus, six lines each, where half of the lines start with the word “Lotta” each time. The chorus, repeated three times, is literally just the phrase “guess i’ll live with a guilty conscience” heavily spliced and overlaid. The construction of the tracks are relatively straightforward, simple, and light—adding a care-free character to McRae. Some may say it’s underbaked, but it’s a refreshing change in an industry where you can sometimes feel the burdening weight of artists dwelling on a single beat.
McRae showcases her exceptional range throughout the album. The lead singles of “Greedy” and “Exes” embrace a “pop-maximalism” approach, with an aggressively fast tempo. They’re balanced out with the stripped down ballads “Calgary” and “Messier.” It results in a more diverse vocal performance than her previous album i used to think i could fly and mid-tempo tendencies.
McRae appears to have the full force of the record label behind her. If the back-to-back promotional bookings on SNL, NHL All-Stars, and Billboard Music Awards didn’t give it away—it shines through in Think Later’s exceptional production value.
Think Later’s production and mixing is at the highest possible caliber—resembling more a seasoned top artist than a newcomer. Much of the impact comes from the remarkable team of co-writers and producers McRae and RCA/Sony have been able to assemble. Nine out of fourteen tracks have Ryan Tedder credited as a co-writer or producer. Tedder—known for his past work with Taylor Swift, Adele, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Ed Sheeran—injects a touch of maximalism across McRae’s tracks. He is a heavy user of distortions, percussions, and echos, making characteristically loud, emotive tracks. “run for the hills” is the epitome of this style and will have listeners shaking with the bass.
Swedish producer ILYA is also credited, a previous collaborator of Ariana Grande and Jenifer Lopez. ILYA’s style adds a sense of modernity and edge to “Guilty Conscience,” with prolific vocal chops and splices. Greg Kurstin joins as the producer for “Plastic Palm Trees.” He echoes the sonic style of the album but in a new vein, bringing the instrumental to the foreground. All together, these legendary influences color Think Later with a dynamic, yet overarching and unmistakable quintessentially pop character.
Think Later is a special album. It's refreshingly playful and spontaneous, but with the backing of traditional pop glory.
edited by Joyce Zhang.
album artwork believed to belong to either the publisher of the work or the artist.